When three of the four candidates for two seats on the St. Johns County Commission got together for an informal public forum with the Molasses Junction Tea Party this week, it was immediately apparent the three — all Republicans — were playing to the home crowd.

The setting was the Molasses Junction Country Store, which is situated about 13 miles west of St. Augustine on County Road 214, surrounded by farm land.

In a warehouse-like back room lined with stuffed deer head trophies and patriotic flags and signs, a podium and a long table were set up for the candidates to address the audience of about 40 Tea Party members and other interested local residents, some of whom dined on chicken wings while they listened.

Present were District 5 hopefuls Randy Brunson and Rachael Bennett, as well as District 1 candidate Merrill Roland, who is challenging incumbent Cyndi Stevenson for her seat. Though Stevenson had initially confirmed to participate in the forum, she did not attend. Also present in the audience was District 2 Commissioner Ron Sanchez, who is not up for re-election this year.

Both Brunson and Roland are running as non-party candidates, but they are lifetime Republicans. Bennett won the Republican nomination in August, as did Stevenson.

While there were subtle differences between the candidates, both in terms of their backgrounds and their proposals, all three agreed on one principal goal: bringing economic growth to the county.

Bennett said she’d like to put an end to people having to leave the county for jobs.

“Let’s bring the money, businesses and jobs back to this county,” she said. “My emphasis is on economic development, and I’m not just talking about high-paying jobs. We need jobs across the board, from the kids who come out of high school and only want to go into the building profession or become an auto mechanic or a plumber, all the way up.”

Her opponent, Brunson, agreed growth was a priority. But while Bennett seemed more inclined toward attracting larger businesses and manufacturing companies, Brunson’s approach was more home grown.

“I’ve been in government for several years, and my No. 1 mission has always been economic development,” Brunson said. “We have got to be business friendly. Let’s concentrate on small businesses. I’ve preached this forever, and it’s time that we did it.”

Snare I-95 travelers

Roland, whose campaign against Stevenson has been under the radar, said he believed public safety and health were high priorities, but agreed that economic growth was vital. His plan was a little different, however.

“I have an idea for tourism, and that is putting small radio transmitters no bigger than this box on the highway signs on I-95,” Roland, who owns a DJ business, said. “Putting heads to beds brings millions of dollars to our community. You’ve probably seen this at Disney and at shopping centers, where it says ‘Tune into this radio frequency’ and it will tell people to come to St. Augustine on their way to Disney.

“If we only get one percent of the 20 million people who go by SJC and never stop, we’ll bring millions of dollars into our community and create hundreds of jobs. My plan will only cost us $2,000 for those two transmitter, with a 30-second commercial about St. Johns County.”

Roland said he felt tourism was a better solution than attracting large industry.

On other issues, such as raising taxes and dealing with the county’s debt, all three stuck to conservative ideals, opposing tax increases.

Roland said one of reasons for the debt was the county’s recent expenditure of $27 million to build a new radio system for police and emergency services, and blamed Stevenson and the other current commissioners for not doing something about upgrading 10 years ago, when it was cheaper to do so. Roland was the only candidate to address his opponent, who was not in attendance.

“My opponent raised our taxes to the highest ever in this county,” Roland said. “If I had been commissioner, that would have never happened. To lower the debt, raising taxes is not the answer, tightening the belt is.”

Be business friendly

Brunson continued to hit on the idea of local business development.

“It’s the same problem we’ve had for a long time,” Brunson said. “The only thing that will help us is, number one, being business friendly. Set goals with the Chamber of Commerce and EDC and come together as a group on both sides of the fence, Independents, Republicans and Democrats and bring business into this county.”

Bennett said she felt the current commissioners were doing their best to deal with the issues.

“Reducing debt has two components: increasing revenues and reducing spending,” Bennett said. “I can say that the County Commission and the administration is active in the reduction of spending, and saving the county a lot of money through cost-cutting measures. I’d like to continue that.”

All three indicated they would support the addition of volunteer fire services to increase protection for areas of the county that are not well served. They also agreed across the board that local residents should not have to pay to drive on the beach. Asked whether they agreed with the pensions available to officials serving at least eight years, each indicated that they were not concerned with or aware of the pensions, and said they weren’t thinking about benefits. Brunson even quipped, “I’m not in this for the money.”

At the end, the candidates were asked their positions on two critical conservative issues: The right to bear arms and abortion. Again, they were in agreement on both issues, supporting the Second Amendment and opposing abortion.

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that Randy actually stumbled and fumbled his way into actually winning something being a local, however this Tea party affiliation is an abomination. We are talking about 2 factions here in town who can't run a 4 figure checkbook without a misappropriation scandal, and they want us to trust them with money ??

It would appear that "occupy "is a moron and has no idea of what the tea party is. Molassas Junction TP is it's own group outside of town and has nothing to do with the infight of the two groups in the city of St Augustine.